Methods and apparatus for wetting pretreatment for through resist metal plating

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are pre-wetting apparatus designs and methods. In some embodiments, a pre-wetting apparatus includes a degasser, a process chamber, and a controller. The process chamber includes a wafer holder configured to hold a wafer substrate, a vacuum port configured to allow formation of a subatmospheric pressure in the process chamber, and a fluid inlet coupled to the degasser and configured to deliver a degassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate at a velocity of at least about 7 meters per second whereby particles on the wafer substrate are dislodged and at a flow rate whereby dislodged particles are removed from the wafer substrate. The controller includes program instructions for forming a wetting layer on the wafer substrate in the process chamber by contacting the wafer substrate with the degassed pre-wetting fluid admitted through the fluid inlet at a flow rate of at least about 0.4 liters per minute.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority from U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/775,987, filed on Feb. 25, 2013, now U.S.Pat. No. 9,455,139, which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/610,316, filed on Mar. 13, 2012, both ofwhich are herein incorporated by reference. U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/775,987 is also a continuation-in-part of and claims priorityfrom U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/684,792 (now abandoned), filedon Jan. 8, 2010, which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/218,024, filed Jun. 17, 2009, both ofwhich are herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments disclosed herein relate to pre-wetting apparatus designsand methods. More specifically, embodiments relate to pre-wettingapparatus designs and methods for pre-wetting a semiconductor waferprior to depositing electrically conductive materials on the wafer forintegrated circuit manufacturing.

BACKGROUND

Wetting is a property of a liquid/solid interface governed by adhesiveforces between the liquid and solid and cohesive forces in the liquid.Adhesive forces between the liquid and solid cause the liquid to spreadacross the solid surface. Cohesive forces in the liquid cause the liquidto minimize contact with the solid surface. The wetting of a solidsurface by a liquid is important in many industrial processes where aliquid interacts with a solid surface. Electroplating (a cathodicprocess), including electroplating in integrated circuit manufacturing,is one such industrial process. Wetting is also important in anodicprocesses, including electroetching and electropolishing.

For example, many semiconductor and microelectronic processes make useof through resist electrodeposition. This plating process is alsosometimes referred to as through-mask or photoresist patternedelectrodeposition. These processes may be associated with platingsubmicrometer gold interconnects on GaAs wafers, plating copper coils ormagnetic alloys for thin-film recording heads, plating copper conductorsfor redistribution or integrated passive applications, or plating PbSnor lead-free solders for flip chip connection. All of these processesinvolve substrates having a blanket conductive seed layer, or aconductive plating base, and a patterned dielectric template, into whichmetal is deposited.

SUMMARY

Methods and apparatus for pre-treating substrates prior tothrough-resist plating or other processing are provided. The substratesare pre-wetted and cleaned such as to remove contaminating particulatematerial, including photoresist particles and residue and to provide awetted surface suitable for subsequent processing.

In one aspect an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes adegasser configured to remove one or more dissolved gasses from apre-wetting fluid to produce a degassed pre-wetting fluid and a processchamber which includes a wafer holder configured to hold a wafersubstrate and configured to rotate the wafer substrate, a vacuum portconfigured to allow formation of a subatmospheric pressure in theprocess chamber, and a fluid inlet coupled to the degasser andconfigured to deliver the degassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafersubstrate at a velocity of at least about 7 meters per second wherebyparticulate material (including particles and residue) on the wafersubstrate is dislodged and at a flow rate whereby dislodged particlesare removed from the wafer substrate. The apparatus further may includea controller comprising program instructions for rotating the wafersubstrate, and forming a wetting layer on the wafer substrate at thesub-atmospheric pressure in the process chamber by contacting the wafersubstrate with the degassed pre-wetting fluid from the degasser andadmitted through the fluid inlet at a flow rate of at least about 0.4liters per minute, the degassed pre-wetting fluid being in a liquidstate, while rotating the wafer substrate. Provided fluid velocities andfluid flow rates are selected such as to be sufficient to dislodge andremove particulate material from the substrate, and appropriate fluiddelivery methods, including fan nozzles, are provided.

The degasser, in some embodiments is a membrane contactor degasserconfigured to produce degassed pre-wetting fluid for contacting thewafer substrate having about 0.5 ppm or less dissolved atmospheric gas.The fluid is preferably a deionized water or a chemical solution thataids in dislodging and removing particles from the wafer substrate. Thevacuum port in some embodiments is located below the wafer holder. Theapparatus in some embodiments is configured to maintain thesubatmospheric pressure of less than about 50 Torr during forming of thewetting layer on the wafer substrate.

In some embodiments the fluid inlet includes a nozzle configured todeliver the degassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate. In someembodiments the nozzle is mounted on a sidewall of the process chamber,and is, in some implementations, a fan nozzle configured to deliver thedegassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate such that thedegassed pre-wetting fluid that impinges the wafer substrate has a shapeof a line. In some embodiments the fluid inlet includes a manifoldincluding at least one nozzle configured to deliver the degassedpre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate, wherein the nozzle islocated over the wafer substrate, and which is a fan nozzle configuredto deliver the degassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate suchthat the degassed pre-wetting fluid that impinges the wafer substratehas a shape of a line.

In some embodiments the process chamber includes a cover and a body,wherein the cover remains stationary and the body is configured to movein a substantially vertical manner to bring the body into contact withthe cover and to form a vacuum seal, and wherein the nozzle of themanifold mentioned above is attached to the cover. The nozzle of themanifold is configured, in some embodiments, to deliver the degassedpre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate from an edge of the wafersubstrate to substantially the center of the wafer substrate.

In some embodiments the wafer holder is configured to hold the wafersubstrate in a substantially face-up orientation, and the apparatus isconfigured to spray the pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate fromhigh-velocity nozzles.

A typical substrate which can be pre-wetted in such an apparatusincludes a metal layer and an overlying photoresist, wherein features inthe photoresist expose portions of the metal layer. In some embodimentsthe features in the photoresist include features having aspect ratios ofabout 2 to 1 to about 1 to 2, wherein the features in the photoresisthave openings having a size of about 5 micrometers to 200 micrometers.

In some embodiments the program instructions of the controller furtherinclude instructions for: after forming the wetting layer on the wafersubstrate, stopping delivery of the degassed pre-wetting fluid, andafter stopping the delivery of the degassed pre-wetting fluid, rotatingthe wafer substrate at a different rotation rate to remove excesssurface entrained degassed pre-wetting fluid from the wafer substrate.

In some embodiments the program instructions of the controller furtherinclude instructions for increasing pressure in the process chamber toatmospheric pressure or to above atmospheric pressure after stopping thedelivery of the degassed pre-wetting fluid and prior to removal of theexcess surface entrained pre-wetting fluid.

Typically the program instructions further include instructions forreducing pressure in the process chamber to the subatmospheric pressureprior to forming the wetting layer on the wafer substrate. For examplethe program instructions may specify initiating the formation of thewetting layer on the wafer substrate when a pressure in the processchamber is reduced to less than about 50 Torr and contacting the wafersubstrate with the degassed pre-wetting fluid for about 10 seconds to120 seconds.

In another aspect, a system is provided, which includes the apparatusdescribed above and a stepper.

In another aspect a method is provided, wherein the method includes: (a)providing a wafer substrate having an exposed metal layer on at least aportion of a surface of the wafer substrate to a process chamber; (b)reducing pressure in the process chamber to a subatmospheric pressure;(c) degassing a pre-wetting fluid; (d) rotating the wafer substrate; and(e) contacting the rotating wafer substrate with the degassedpre-wetting fluid at the subatmospheric pressure in the process chamberto form a wetting layer on the wafer substrate, the degassed pre-wettingfluid contacting the wafer substrate at a velocity of at least about 7meters per second that is sufficient to dislodge any particulatematerial on the exposed metal layer and at a flow rate of at least about0.4 liters per minute that is sufficient to remove dislodged particulatematerial from the wafer substrate.

In some embodiments the method further includes: applying photoresist tothe wafer substrate; exposing the photoresist to light; patterning theresist and transferring the pattern to the wafer substrate; andselectively removing the photoresist from the work piece.

In another aspect a non-transitory computer machine-readable mediumincluding program instructions for control of an apparatus is provided,wherein the program instructions include code for operations comprising:(a) providing a wafer substrate having an exposed metal layer on atleast a portion of a surface of the wafer substrate to a processchamber; (b) reducing pressure in the process chamber to asubatmospheric pressure; (c) degassing a pre-wetting fluid; (d) rotatingthe wafer substrate; and (e) contacting the rotating wafer substratewith the degassed pre-wetting fluid at the subatmospheric pressure inthe process chamber to form a wetting layer on the wafer substrate, thedegassed pre-wetting fluid contacting the wafer substrate at a velocityof at least about 7 meters per second that is sufficient to dislodge anyparticulate material on the exposed metal layer and at a flow rate of atleast about 0.4 liters per minute that is sufficient to remove dislodgedparticulate material from the wafer substrate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic layout of one embodiment of a pre-wettingapparatus.

FIG. 2 depicts an isometric view of an embodiment of a pre-wettingchamber.

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber configured for acondensation pre-wetting process.

FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber configured for animmersion pre-wetting process.

FIG. 5 depicts another embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber configuredfor an immersion pre-wetting process.

FIG. 6 depicts an embodiment of an apparatus in which the pre-wettingprocess is performed in a plating cell.

FIG. 7 depicts an embodiment of an electroplating system.

FIGS. 8a and 8b are flow diagrams for embodiments of a pre-wettingprocess.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram for an embodiment of an electroplating processfor electroplating a layer of metal on a wafer substrate.

FIGS. 10a and 10b depict an embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber forthrough resist plating.

FIGS. 11a and 11b depict an embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber forthrough resist plating.

FIG. 12 depicts an embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber for throughresist plating.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram for an embodiment of a pre-wetting process forthrough resist plating.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made to specific embodiments. Examples of thespecific embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whilethe invention will be described in conjunction with these specificembodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit theinvention to such specific embodiments. On the contrary, it is intendedto cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be includedwithin the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appendedclaims. In the following description, numerous specific details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the presentinvention. The present invention may be practiced without some or all ofthese specific details. In other instances, well known processoperations have not been described in detail in order not tounnecessarily obscure the present invention.

Disclosed herein are apparatus designs and methods for waferpre-wetting, for modifying the conditions of wafer entry and waferprocessing during plating, and pre-wetting fluid compositions. Thepre-wetting process, in accordance with embodiments provided herein, canbe performed in the electroplating chamber or in a separate pre-wettingstation of a module which includes a pre-wetting station and anelectroplating station. In some embodiments pre-wetting andelectroplating are performed in separate apparatuses.

The substrate typically is a semiconductor wafer which has a layer ofconductive material residing thereon (e.g., a seed layer comprisingcopper or copper alloy). During electroplating, electrical connectionsare made to the conductive layer and the wafer substrate is negativelybiased, thereby serving as a cathode. The wafer is contacted with aplating solution containing a metal salt (e.g., copper sulfate, a copperalkylsulfonate, or a mixture of salts), which is reduced at the wafercathode resulting in metal deposition on the wafer. In many embodiments,the substrate contains one or more recessed features (e.g., vias orholes), which need to be filled by the electroplating process. Theplating solution, in addition to metal salts, may also contain an acid,and typically contains one or more additives such as halides (e.g.,chloride, bromide, etc.), accelerators, levelers, and suppressors, usedto modulate electrodeposition rates on various surfaces of thesubstrate.

The disclosed processes and associated apparatus designs areparticularly applicable and necessary for electrofilling wider (e.g.,typically greater than 5 μm) and deeper (e.g., typically greater than 10μm) damascene structures (vias), such as those commonly found inemerging copper through silicon via (TSV) electrofill structures or inrecessed features associated with through resist plating. Throughsilicon via structures are further described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,776,741,issued Aug. 17, 2010, which is herein incorporated by reference. Gasbubbles, trapped or otherwise residing on the surface or within afeature, will interfere with the field and feature plating processeither by blocking the feature surface with the non-conducting gas, orby creating an impediment to the free passage of current. The disclosedprocesses and associated apparatus designs enable void-free copperelectrofilling.

Electroplating and electrofill of TSV and through resistinterconnections present a number of challenges. These include longplating times due to very large and/or deep structures, or incompleteplating due to poor feature wetting or poor seed layer coverage.Further, it is important to ensure that the interior of all recessedfeatures are filled with liquid and that there are no trapped gassesinside the features that prevent plating therein. The pre-wettingapparatus designs and methods described herein are generally describedwith respect to electroplating (a cathodic process) a metal,specifically copper. However, the pre-wetting apparatus designs andmethods described herein are generally applicable to all electrolyticprocesses, including eletroetching and electropolishing, both of whichare anodic processes.

Methods for forming liquid-filled, bubble-free, particle-free recessedfeatures that are needed for the plating process are described. Further,compositions of pre-wetting fluids which minimize seed layer corrosionand simultaneously increase plating rates are described.

Apparatus

Generally, the apparatus designs and methods described herein avoid theformation of a bubble within a recessed feature (e.g., a via) on a wafersubstrate by first removing gas, primarily all non-condensable gasses(e.g., nitrogen and oxygen), from within the feature before pre-wettingthe surface and feature with a fluid. To accomplish this, the wafer withthe recessed features is placed in a vessel that is suitable for bothholding the wafer and removing the gas from the wafer surfaces (e.g., avacuum vessel). In addition to the vessel itself, a mechanism forremoving the gas (e.g., a line connected to a vacuum source such as apump) and a mechanism for depositing liquid onto the surface while thevacuum conditions are maintained, are needed.

Described herein are various apparatus designs for pre-wetting a waferprior to, or within a short time after, the initiation of a platingprocess, where bubbles and gas that might otherwise be trapped withinfeatures recessed in a surface are avoided. Embodiments of a pre-wettingapparatus include various elements. Typically, a pre-wetting apparatusincludes a pre-wetting fluid storage and return tank, including liquidmixing devices and liquid level controllers and sensors. In someembodiments, the apparatus includes a pre-wetting fluid degassing flowloop. Such a degassing flow loop includes a circulating pump,routing/diverting valves, a liquid degassing element, and a connectionbetween the liquid degassing element and the system vacuum pump (used topump down and apply vacuum to various liquid degassing elements on thetool and the pre-wetting chamber), in some embodiments. A pre-wettingapparatus also includes a pre-wetting chamber. A pre-wetting chamber, insome embodiments, includes a two position (open/closed) vacuum waferaccess door or lid for access to the chamber and a combined door or lidand splash shield that prevents liquid from hitting and subsequentlydropping from the upper walls or door onto the wafer surface. In someembodiments, inside the chamber is a wafer holder for supporting androtating the wafer within the chamber. In some embodiments, the chamberincludes an air-dome chamber-heater, used to prevent liquid condensationon the walls of the chamber that would otherwise reside above the waferand the vacuum wafer access door and potentially drip onto the wafer.Pre-wetting chambers typically include an inlet port for pre-wettingfluid to enter the chamber and to direct pre-wetting fluid to land onthe upper surface of the rotating wafer and an inlet line and chamberport for drawing and releasing vacuum on the chamber, the inlet linecontaining a particle filtration device and the inlet port containing aflow diffuser configured to disperse incoming gas flow and minimizechamber flow turbulence. In some embodiments, the chamber includesliquid level sensors for monitoring an empty/ready andoverflow/over-full condition. Pre-wetting chambers also typicallyinclude a drain for removing liquid from the chamber and directing thedrained fluid back to the storage tank.

Embodiments described herein overcome the deleterious effects of trappedbubbles, particularly those bubbles which can be formed in larger viasor trenches in a wafer, by: (1) avoiding trapping gas in the via duringpre-wetting altogether by removing substantially all of the atmosphericnon-condensable gasses above the wafer and from within the via or hole,and then pre-wetting the wafer with pre-wetting fluid; and/or (2)significantly increasing the rate a bubble will dissolve by applying alarge external pressure on the fluid, thereby driving the bubble todissolve in the fluid by creating a large supersaturated condition atthe bubble interface. In addition to these pre-treating and pre-platingmeasures, in some embodiments plating is performed in a plating solutionthat is maintained in a degassed state, and in other embodiments, theplating solution is degassed in the line just prior to being exposed tothe wafer surface.

In some embodiments it is possible to perform pre-wetting within anelectroplating cell, where the pre-wetting fluid has the samecomposition as the plating solution. However, for a variety of reasons,including the hardware complexity of combining plating processes withvacuum processes, pre-wetting (including vacuum feature-backfilledpre-wetting) is often performed in a different cell, sub-cell, or modulethan the plating cell. When pre-wetting under vacuum is performed in adistinctly different area of the plating cell, or in a distinctlyseparate module from the plating cell, rather than in the platingsolution, the composition of the pre-wetting fluid can be selected. Thepre-wetting fluid may have the same, or very similar, composition asthat subsequently used for plating the wafer. The pre-wetting fluid mayinclude all the elements of the plating bath (e.g., the same solvent(s)and same dissolved metal ions, acids, cation, additives and halides, atthe same or very similar concentrations as in the plating solution).Such a pre-wetting fluid may work in some embodiments. Alternatively, inother embodiments, a pre-wetting fluid that is very different from theplating solution may be used. For example, in some embodiments, apre-wetting fluid of 1) water, 2) a fluid with a substantially highermetal ion concentration than that of the plating solution, 3) a fluidhaving either a lower, different combination of, or no dissolvedhalides, 4) a fluid substantially free of one, a few, or all of theplating additives, or 5) water-miscible solvents may be used aspre-wetting fluids. Such pre-wetting fluids are further describedherein.

A number of factors should be considered when selecting a pre-wettingfluid composition, including the possibilities of: a) corroding themetal layers on a wafer substrate before initiation of plating; b)inhibiting the plating process (i.e., slowing down or inhibitingaltogether the feature metal-filling process); c) the loss ofpre-wetting fluid to subsequent pre-wetting fluid reuse; and d) altering(by adding, diluting, or concentrating) various critical speciesconcentrations within the plating bath over time. The latter process mayalter the metal ion concentrations, halide concentrations, organicadditives, etc., in the plating bath. These effects can be quitesubstantial. Furthermore, when using a pre-wetting fluid of a differentcomposition than the plating bath, performing the pre-wetting process inthe same module without enabling suitable mechanisms of removing andrecovering excess entrained pre-wetting fluid that would be added to theplating solution would generally require mechanisms for mitigating,monitoring and/or otherwise correcting for plating solution modificationover time. On the other hand, the use of hardware and a process whereinthe pre-wetting operation is performed in a separate treatment station,module, vessel, or sub-vessel of the plating cell that allows forseparation and recovery of this fluid may be advantageous because it canavoid such issues. With this background, and in order to simplify thedescription of core concepts of embodiments, many embodiments aredescribed hereafter in the context of a separate pre-wetting “station”and a separate “plating station”, with the wafer being transferred fromthe former to the latter. However, while perhaps favorable in somecircumstances (e.g., for avoiding mixing of unlike liquids or for otherreasons), the aspect of embodiments related to the particular choice ofpre-wetting materials, the general fluid, and plating processingsequences are not intended to be so limited.

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic layout of one embodiment of a pre-wettingapparatus (i.e., chamber 301 and associated hardware). The chamber 301is connected to vacuum pump 303 though an outlet in the chamber andthrough a three-way valve connection 305. On the other side of thethree-way valve is degassing loop 306 that includes a pre-wetting fluidtank 307, a degassing device 309, and a pump 311 for circulating thepre-wetting fluid around the degassing loop. In another embodiment, thepre-wetting fluid feed line and the vacuum line are not connected exceptat the chamber, and each has its own valve (i.e., there is no three-wayvalve). In an alternative embodiment, the chamber has an inlet foradmitting pre-wetting fluid and an outlet adapted for connection with avacuum pump. The position of the pump 311 can be after the degassingelement, if it is desired to drive the fluid into the chamber by thepump rather than by being sucked into the chamber by a pressuredifferential between the pre-wetting fluid tank 307 and the chamber 301.

In some embodiments, the area in the pre-wetting fluid holding tank 307is purged of gasses by applying a vacuum to the holding tank using avacuum pump (not shown) so that a minimum amount of dissolved gas isachieved. The rate of removal of the gas from the pre-wetting fluid canalso be increased by increasing the exposed surface of the fluid to thevacuum, for example, by having the fluid re-enter the chamber from thecirculation loop in a spray or through a spray column. In the embodimentof the system shown in FIG. 1, pre-wetting fluid is circulated thoughthe degassing device 309 (e.g., in some embodiments, a membrane contactdegasser) for removing one or more dissolved gases (e.g., both O₂ andN₂) from the pre-wetting fluid prior to pre-wetting. Examples ofcommercially available degassing devices include the Liquid-Cel™ fromMembrana of Charlotte, N.C. and the pHasor™ from Entegris of Chaska,Minn. The amount of dissolved gas can be monitored with an appropriatemeter (e.g., a commercial dissolved oxygen meter (not shown)). Theremoval of the dissolved gas prior to the pre-wetting fluid enteringchamber 301 can improve the pre-wetting process, as is described herein.After degassing the pre-wetting fluid, optionally, the valve 315 betweenthe vacuum side of the degassing chamber 309 and the vacuum pump 303 isclosed (this prevents gas initially in the chamber from becomingdissolved in the degassed pre-wetting fluid; in some embodiments,separate pumps can be used for these two functions).

Unlike conditions that exist when using an apparatus similarlyconfigured to that of FIG. 1, if the pre-wetting fluid is not degassedprior to exposing it to a wafer under vacuum, dissolved gas from thefluid can be released from the fluid as it enters the chamber. Thisresults in bubbles forming inside the vias. While not wanting to belimited by a particular model or theory, a via bottom is a location ofnegative curvature, and it is believed that this location is aparticularly susceptible to nucleating a bubble and releasing gas fromthe pre-wetting fluid. If this occurs, bubbles will be formed from thepre-wetting fluid containing dissolved gas because it is supersaturatedwith gas under the pre-wetting conditions (e.g., vacuum in the chamber).The bubbles so formed can remain there after the pre-wetting process,which in turn can inhibit plating there and lead to associated defects.Therefore, in some embodiments (including the embodiment shown in FIG.1), the pre-wetting fluid used in the pre-wetting process is a degassedpre-wetting fluid. In some embodiments, the degassed pre-wetting fluidmay be a plating solution, and the pre-wetting methods described hereinmay be preformed in the same chamber as the plating chamber itself. If aseparate pre-wetting chamber and apparatus are employed, but thepre-wetting fluid is not degassed, then intermittent and unreliablefilling results may be observed. For example, when holes on a wafer arefilled with pre-wetting fluid (with the wafer under vacuum) withoutfirst degassing the pre-wetting fluid, it has been found thatapproximately 15% of the holes still have air bubbles in them (asindicated by the same percentage having post-plating voids, indicativeof trapped gas bubble therein). Thus, in some embodiments, it isimportant to perform pre-wetting under vacuum (i.e., at a subatmosphericpressure) and with a degassed fluid.

In contrast, the use of a degassed pre-wetting fluid in combination witha pre-wetting operation under vacuum (i.e., at subatmospheric pressure)leads, in some embodiments, to significantly fewer feature voids thanwhen pre-wetting under vacuum alone is employed. In specific embodimentsthat give good protection against forming non-uniform deposits, acombination of a degassed pre-wetting fluid with pre-wetting undervacuum is further combined with plating in a plating solution that isdegassed. The plating solution may be degassed only in the initialstages of plating (e.g., for only about the first 10 minutes of theplating process), or remain degassed for the entire plating process(e.g., if the plating time is greater). Experiments performed underthese conditions produced vias that were void free.

Returning to FIG. 1, after the pressure in chamber 301 has reached a lowvalue (i.e., a subatmospheric pressure), the three-way valve 305 to thevacuum pump location is switched to connect to the line from thedegassing loop 306, and the three-way valve 313 of the degasser loop isset to allow fluid to be directed into the vacuum chamber 301. In someembodiments, the subatmospheric pressure is about equal to that of theboiling pressure of the pre-wetting fluid at the temperature ofoperations, which for water at ambient temperature is about 20 torr. Inother embodiments, the subatmospheric pressure is about 50 torr. Infurther embodiments, the pressure of 50 torr is maintained whilepre-wetting the wafer substrate. In alternative embodiments, thepre-wetting system is configured to initiate introduction of thepre-wetting fluid into the chamber and onto the wafer substrate afterthe pressure in the chamber has been reduced to less than about 50 Torr.In embodiments where the pre-wetting fluid tank 307 is at atmosphericpressure, liquid is drawn into the chamber 301 by the pressuredifferential between the vacuum chamber and the pre-wetting fluid tank.

The pre-wetting fluid wets the device side of the wafer surface of awafer in the chamber 301. Needle valve 317 can be used to meter the flowof the pre-wetting fluid into chamber 301. Embodiments of chamber 301are described herein. Chamber 301, in some embodiments, is a pressurechamber configured to apply an external pressure to increase the rate ofbubble dissolution, as described herein. In further embodiments of apre-wetting apparatus, the pre-wetting apparatus includes a transfermechanism configured for transferring the wafer substrate from thepre-wetting chamber to an electroplating apparatus.

In some embodiments, the pre-wetting fluid is cooled prior to injectioninto the pre-wetting chamber (e.g., 0° C. for water, or −10° C. forsuitable electrolytes). In other embodiments, the degasser is configuredfor cooling the pre-wetting fluid to a temperature of less than about20° C. Other examples of methods for cooling the pre-wetting fluidinclude passing the fluid over a heat exchanger in the pre-wetting fluidholding tank or though a in-line cooler (both not shown in FIG. 1).Cooling the pre-wetting fluid reduces the partial vapor pressure of thesolvent of the pre-wetting fluid, which allows for greater appliedvacuum, for example, to the degassing device. Lowering the temperatureof the pre-wetting fluid can also be effective in increasing both thesurface tension and viscosity of the pre-wetting fluid, which tends tomake the phenomena of degassing device “blow through” or “weeping” lessprevalent. Weeping can be a particularly difficult problem when dealingwith salt containing pre-wetting fluids, because weeping salt ladenfluids tend to dry and destroy the pores of the degassing device. Usinglower temperature fluids reduces the tendency of salt laden electrolyteto evaporate and flow, avoiding this known source of degassing devicefailure. For example, the vapor pressure of water (with a small amountof salt) is about 2.7 torr at −10° C. versus 17.5 torr at 20° C. and 32torr at 30° C. With a 20 torr vacuum (yielding about 0.5 ppm dissolvedatmospheric gas) applied to a degassing device, a 30° C. pre-wettingfluid will literally boil and leave salts around the pores of thedegassing device, and a 20° C. pre-wetting fluid will evaporate rapidly.Very little degassing device salting occurs when using a −10° C.pre-wetting fluid, however. Thus, in general, more dissolved gas can beremoved more efficiently from a degassing device with a lowertemperature fluid. In some embodiments, the pre-wetting fluid is cooledto a temperature of less than 20° C., for example 0° C. or less, whileit is degassed and before it enters the processing chamber. Also,reducing the temperature of the pre-wetting fluid reduces the rate ofmetal corrosion in the pre-wetting system.

In some embodiments of a pre-wetting apparatus, the surface of a waferis wetted with a pre-wetting fluid followed by the application of anexternal pressure to the fluid. The wafer surface is first contactedwith the fluid using an appropriate mechanism, usually immersing thewafer in a pre-wetting fluid (described herein). In these embodiments,the pre-wetting chamber includes an inlet for admitting pre-wettingfluid and the chamber is configured for operating at a higher thanatmospheric pressure during or after pre-wetting. The application of anexternal pressure to the fluid facilitates the removal of bubbles. Insome embodiments, the pre-wetting fluid is preconditioned so that it issubstantially free not just of oxygen (e.g., to minimize corrosion ofthe metal on the wafer), but of all dissolved non-condensable gasses,such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide, prior to the pre-wetting of thesurface, to accelerate the dissolution rate of any trapped bubble in arecessed feature. Exposure of a wafer to deoxygenated processing fluidfor use in the treatment of a semiconductor wafer is described in U.S.Pat. Nos. 6,021,791 and 6,146,468, which are incorporated herein byreference.

After immersion of the wafer into a pre-wetting fluid or covering of thewafer with a pre-wetting fluid, the region around the wafer (e.g., apressure chamber) is closed and sealed, and an external pressure isapplied to the chamber and fluid. Pressure may be applied pneumatically(e.g., introducing high pressure gas into the chamber in the area overthe fluid), or hydraulically (e.g., with the chamber substantially freeof non-dissolved gas and using a hydraulic piston or other suitabledevice to apply external pressure to the fluid). As the pressure in thechamber increases, the bubble will decrease from its original size. Whenusing pneumatic (gas) pressure to compress the trapped bubble, it may beimportant to avoid dissolving substantial amounts of gas into thepre-wetting fluid, particularly in the vicinity of the bubble. In someembodiments, a stagnant, relatively thick layer of fluid, for example,greater than 1 cm in thickness, is used. In other embodiments, thepneumatic pressure is applied to the chamber though a long tube with asubstantial resistance for dissolution of gas from reaching theinterface so that the gas that contacts the liquid does so over arelatively small surface area and has a relatively long diffusion path,limiting the amount of gas that can dissolve in the fluid over a periodof time. However pressure is applied, the driving force for dissolutionof the trapped bubble will increase with applied pressure. For a largebubble without significant capillary pressure effects, the driving forcefor dissolution will be approximately equal to the product of theinitial mole fraction of the particular gas component in the bubble andthe difference in applied pressure to the chamber and the initialpartial pressure of dissolved gas in the fluid. This later quantity willvary depending on the extent of degassing performed on the pre-wettingfluid.

While pressure can be applied either pneumatically or hydraulically, inpre-wetting embodiments that are not immersion embodiments, but rathercoverage of a wafer with a thin layer of pre-wetting fluid, thepneumatically applied external pressure will potentially allow gas toredissolve quickly into a (e.g., degassed) thin layer of pre-wettingfluid. There is a competition between gas uptake from the externalpressurized gas source versus gas dissolution into the liquid from thebubble. Therefore, a relatively thick layer of pre-wetting fluid shouldbe used for non-immersion pre-wetting operations. Also, there are alimited number of practical mechanisms for applying hydrostatic pressureto the thin layer of pre-wetting fluid on a wafer. One possiblemechanism for doing so is to create a face-up wafer and a pre-wettingliquid fluid containing cup. In contrast, there is a much widertolerance with thick layers of pre-wetting fluid and the immersionpre-wetting method. This is because pressure can be transmitted to thebubble by a purely hydrostatic mechanism, and alternatively, applicationof pneumatic pressure will not quickly re-saturate the pre-wetting fluidaround a bubble in a via with gas because of the relatively longdiffusion distances involved.

When pressure is applied, with the gas partial pressure in the bubbleexceeding that in the pre-wetting fluid, the bubble will begin todissolve. Eventually the bubble will completely dissolve, the total timefor which depends on parameters such as its initial size, the appliedpressure, and the original depth of the bubble inside the feature. Afterthe bubble has completely dissolved, some time should generally beallowed to pass before the pressure is released, so that any excessdissolved gas (beyond that which will be soluble at 1 atmosphere) canequilibrate into the pre-wetting fluid as a whole. This avoids thepossibility of re-nucleating a bubble inside the feature. When this isprocedure is followed, the bubble will be removed from the feature andnot reform upon release of the excess external pressure.

FIG. 2 depicts an isometric view of an embodiment of a pre-wettingchamber suitable for performing pre-wetting process described herein.Pre-wetting chamber 501 includes a motor 503 for rotating the waferduring processing is anchored below the chamber via the chuck to chamberbase 504 by a motor-and-bearing supporting member 505, both of whichalso create a fluid seal between the bearing 507 and the underside ofthe chamber and the bearing. The bearing is a commercially availablevacuum-pass-through central shaft rotary bearing. The motor is attachedvia a coupling 509 to a drive shaft 511 that passes though a vacuumisolating bearing to the chuck base 513. The chuck has three arms (515is one arm) to support the wafer (wafer not shown), confinement pins,and other alignment apparatus 517 as appropriate.

At the lower section of the chamber is a drain 519 for removing excesspre-wetting fluid that may accumulate there after it is applied to therotating wafer. The fluid is flung out toward the chamber walls anddrops to the chamber base. In some embodiments, a wafer peripheral“fluid deflector shield” (not shown) is positioned approximately in theplane of the wafer to deflect fluid emanating from the wafer edgedownward before hitting the chamber wall. The deflector shield may bemoveable, or the wafer and wafer chuck plane may be adjusted byappropriate vertical moving mechanisms and seals. Also at the base ofthe chamber is a vacuum inlet and vacuum release line 521, housed in afluid protecting shield 523 is some embodiments. This shield helpsprevent surges of gasses from unnecessarily disturbing fluids within thechamber as well as minimizing the amount of liquid drawn into the vacuumline by isolating the two. While the vacuum line (and shield) can belocated in the upper section of the chamber, it is advantageous to drawvacuum from below the wafer so as to minimize the propensity of anyparticles falling onto the wafer and forming defects. This can occur ifparticles or other materials enter the chamber during back filling thechamber with a gas or from the ambient environment while the chamberdoor is open. To minimize particles and other materials from enteringthe chamber, the chamber is typically backfilled with aparticle-filtered inert gas such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or argon,and a slight positive pressure of clean particle free gas is feed to thechamber while the door is open. The backfill gas is typically filteredand the entering fluid enters a flow diffuser mounted on the wall of thechamber, so as to avoid a gas flow jet that might dry the wafer ordisturb any chamber contents unnecessarily.

In some embodiments, a pre-wetting fluid nozzle 525 is located above andto the side but not over the centrally located wafer and wafer chuck,oriented and configured to spray or stream fluid to reach the wafercentral regions. In other embodiments, the pre-wetting fluid nozzle isattached to a movable arm which can be positioned over the wafer. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 2, the chamber vacuum door 527 is located alongthe walls of the chamber, and configured to seal to the chamber itself.It can be moved away from the chamber as well as downwards (or upwards)so a wafer can enter the chamber freely, and then be repositioned to thesealing position after a wafer is placed onto the wafer holding chuck.The doors and other elements that potentially could hold entrained fluidshould be designed such that the fluid may not drip onto the wafer. Forexample, the door's retracted position and associated hardware may bepositioned below the plane that the wafer creates on insertion into thechamber, so as to avoid dripping fluid of otherwise contaminating thewafer during transit in or out of the chamber.

In some embodiments, the upper section of the chamber, particularly theareas above the plane where the wafer resides in the chuck and isextracted through the door, are heated above the temperature of thewafer that is to be pre-wetted. This includes both the areas that resideabove the wafer (top surface or vacuum dome, not shown in FIG. 2) aswell as the peripheral areas around the wafer. This heating is useful inavoiding liquid from dropping from the ceiling of the chamber onto thewafer before vacuum conditions are established, potentially trapping anair bubble inside a via where the drop fell, circumventing the desiredprocess of putting a pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer only when air isfirst removed from the vias. Similarly, during the placement of a waferinto the chamber, liquid falling from the walls onto the wafer surfacewould have a similar effect. By heating the chamber walls, condensationon the walls and ceiling is avoided, as well as enabling the rapidevaporation of any stray droplets that might otherwise reach thosepositions, thereby keeping these areas dry.

While not shown in FIG. 2, in some embodiments a vertically moveable andautomatable splash shield is positioned peripheral to the wafer andchuck and inside the chamber. The splash shield can be moved upwardsduring the application of fluid or at other times as suited to minimizeand avoid, among other things, liquid from contacting the chamber dooror upper walls. Alternatively, the wafer chuck can be moved downwardsdeeper into the chamber and below the plane of the vacuum door afterwafer insertion, accomplishing the same purpose.

In other embodiments, rather than delivering a pre-wetting fluid to thewafer surface, the wafer is immersed in or otherwise covered with apre-wetting fluid (e.g., by condensation) while vacuum conditions aremaintained above the fluid and wafer. Since the creation of a vacuumwithin the chamber creates conditions where there is substantially nonon-condensable gas in the chamber, the pre-wetting fluid is not impededfrom entering a via. Put another way, the liquid does not need todisplace any gas located within a via during pre-wetting, since the gashas been removed in a separate operation (pulling vacuum) prior to thepre-wetting operation.

For example, in one embodiment, after vacuum is applied to thepre-wetting chamber, a condensable fluid vapor is created within thechamber or introduced to the chamber (e.g., vapors of water (e.g., lowpressure steam), methyl alcohol, dimethylcarbonate, diethylcarbonate,isopropyl alcohol, dimethyl sulfoxide, and dimethyl formamide, or otherliquid used as the subsequent plating electrolyte, easily dissolvable ina subsequent rinse, or soluble in the subsequent plating electrolyte).In embodiments where the wafer substrate has at least one recessedfeature and the pre-wetting chamber is configured to deliver pre-wettingfluid onto the wafer substrate in a gaseous from, the pre-wetting fluidcondenses to form a liquid film on the wafer surface that fills therecessed feature with the pre-wetting fluid. FIG. 3 depicts anembodiment of a pre-wetting chamber that is configured for such acondensation pre-wetting process. FIG. 3 shows chamber 601 that has amoveable vacuum lid (alternatively an access door) 609 allowing accessto the chamber, a line to a vacuum source 611, a vacuum release line613, and a condensable fluid inlet 615. Vacuum seal 617 seals the lowervacuum containment vessel 619 from the rest of the chamber. The wafer603 sits on a wafer cooling element (chiller) 605 that is part of thewafer holding fixture (chuck) 607. The wafer cooling element 605 reducesthe wafer substrate surface temperature to a temperature below thecondensation temperature of the pre-wetting fluid that flows into thechamber thorough inlet 615 as a vapor. In another embodiment, aftercreating a vacuum and removing the condensable gasses (e.g., air) fromthe chamber 601 with vacuum, water is simply heated and allowed tovaporize (i.e., boil) in the chamber, and allowed to condense on thesurfaces, including and preferentially on the cooler wafer 603, insidethe chamber. For example, in a chamber without vacuum seals 617, a smallamount of water in the lower section 619 of the chamber could be heatedand allowed to flash simultaneously while vacuum is pulled inside thechamber. The connection to the vacuum can be removed (closed) at somepoint during the process.

In another embodiment, the wafer substrate is immersed into a bath ofpre-wetting fluid for a period of time. FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment ofa pre-wetting chamber configured for such an immersion pre-wettingprocess. In FIG. 4, the wafer 701 is held in wafer holder 702 in achamber 703. Chamber 703 has an inlet 711 for admitting pre-wettingfluid. As shown, the wafer is held in the wafer holder face up, and heldby an appropriate mechanism that still allows fluid to reach wafer fromthe peripheral edge. Vacuum is pulled on chamber 703 though vacuum port707, which is connected to a vacuum system (not shown). Then, the waferis wetted with a pre-wetting fluid by, for example, either 1) the waferand wafer holder moving down into the pre-wetting fluid 713 or 2) thepre-wetting fluid level rising by fluid entering through inlet 711.During the pre-wetting process, the wafer may be slowly rotated withmotor 705. After the pre-wetting process, the liquid level is lowered,or the wafer raised, and the wafer is spun at low rpm with motor 705 toremove excess entrained fluid, leaving a thin pre-wetting fluid layer. Aflow of nitrogen gas through port 709 may also be used to dry thebackside of the wafer while the frontside of the wafer remains wetted.The wafer is then transferred to a standard clamshell for plating.

In other embodiments of the pre-wetting chamber shown in FIG. 4, thewafer can be held in a face down position. In some embodiments of apre-wetting apparatus with a pre-wetting chamber as shown the FIG. 4,the pre-wetting apparatus is configured to initiate immersion of thewafer into the pre-wetting fluid after the pressure in the chamber hasbeen reduced to less than about 50 Torr. The pre-wetting chamber 703shown in FIG. 4 can be used in embodiments in which an external pressureis applied to dissolve bubbles, as described herein. The chamber andother components would need to withstand internal pressures instead ofor in addition to vacuum.

FIG. 5 depicts another embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber configuredfor an immersion pre-wetting process. FIG. 5 shows pre-wetting chamber801, wafer 809, and fluid 813 or wafer holder 803 moving relative toeach other. In this embodiment, the chamber and wafer holder 803 can betilted for precise control of the pre-wetting front and complete liquidremoval from the chamber. Also, the gap between the wafer 809 and thebottom of the chamber is small. As in FIG. 4, pre-wetting fluid in FIG.5 may enter/exit though port 811 and a vacuum may be pulled on chamber801 though vacuum port 807, which is connected to a vacuum system (notshown). Excess entrained fluid may be removed from the wafer surface byspinning it at a low rpm with motor 805. The embodiment shown in FIG. 5is particularly useful when pre-wetting the wafer substrate surface witha high-cost pre-wetting fluid, or when it is otherwise desirable to usea minimal amount of pre-wetting fluid (e.g., so the level of dissolvedgas can be maintained at low levels). After pre-wetting, the wafer istransferred to a standard clamshell for plating. A similar design of anarrow-gap, tilted surface pre-wetting apparatus, but without amechanism for applying a vacuum during the pre-wetting operations, isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,324, issued on Apr. 6, 2010, hereinincorporated by reference.

The chamber shown in FIG. 5 can also be used in the embodiment in whichan external pressure is applied, as described above. In this embodiment,the chamber and other equipment is designed or modified to be able towithstand and maintain internal positive pressures.

An embodiment of an apparatus in which the pre-wetting process isperformed in a plating cell is shown in FIG. 6. Alternatively, this canalso be stated that the pre-wetting chamber is configured to bothpre-wet a wafer substrate and to electroplate a layer of metal on thepre-wetted wafer substrate. In FIG. 6, chamber 901 is a plating cell,with a vacuum sealing surface being a section of the cell wall 903.Wafer holding fixture 905 holds wafer 915. In the embodiment depicted inthis figure, the plating cell contains an ionically resistive ionicallypermeable high resistance virtual anode (HRVA) 907 and a separated anodechamber (SAC) region 909. One example of an HRVA containing apparatus isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,308,931, issued Nov. 13, 2012, which isincorporated herein by reference in relevant part. See also U.S. Pat.No. 7,854,828, issued Dec. 21, 2010, which is incorporated herein byreference in relevant part.

Initially wafer 915 is held above the plating solution 913 and thevacuum is drawn on the chamber through vacuum port 911. When vacuum isdrawn on the chamber, vacuum typically should be drawn on the backsideof the wafer through the wafer holding fixture so that the wafer doesnot fracture. Afterwards, the fluid level 913 is raised, wetting thewafer surface. In some embodiments, this fluid is pre-wetting fluid, andin other embodiments, this fluid is a plating solution. In someembodiments, the fluid is degassed prior to contacting the wafersurface. Since there is no gas in the chamber, the fact that the waferis face down does not lead to any trapped gas-containing bubbles belowthe surface or inside the vias. After the pre-wetting is complete, thevacuum can be released. Electroplating a metal (in some embodiments,copper) on wafer 915 can then begin. It is generally simpler(mechanically and processing conditions) to perform plating at ambientpressures, with or without wafer rotation. Alternatively, the vacuum canbe held throughout the electroplating process. Again, it is advantageousin this and other embodiments to have the fluid degassed prior toperforming the pre-wetting operations. Otherwise the fluid may releasedissolved gas, forming bubble inside the features or on the surface asgas is driven out of the liquid by the lower pressure.

A general description of a clamshell-type plating apparatus havingaspects suitable for use with embodiments described herein is describedin detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,156,167 and 6,800,187, which areincorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

FIG. 7 depicts an embodiment of an electroplating system/module 1001 forprocessing wafers. The particular tool layout shown contains twoseparate wafer handling robots, 1003 which moves a “dry” wafer from acassette stationed in a front FOUP (front opening unified pods) loader1005 to an aligner module/transfer station (not shown) and a transferchamber robot 1004. The aligner module ensures that the wafer isproperly aligned on a transfer chamber robot 1004 arm for precisedelivery to other chambers/modules of the system. In some embodiments,the aligner module both aligns the wafer azimuthally (so called “wafernotch aligning”) as well as in the vertical and horizontal planes to aparticular location (i.e., fixes the wafer's x, y, and z positionregistry).

The same or a different transfer chamber robot is used to feed the waferback from the back end “wet processing area” of the tool to the FOUPafter processing and drying is completed. A back end robot (not shown)may contain two or more arms, each with a single or multiple“end-effectors” to grip the wafer. Some “end-effectors” grip the waferat the bottom of the wafer with a vacuum “wand”, and others may hold thewafer only at is peripheral edge. In some embodiments, one robot waferhandling arm end-effectors is used only for handling a wafer that has awet surface, and the others reserved for handling only fully dry wafers,thereby minimizing contamination.

After a wafer enters the transfer station (containing transfer chamberrobot 1004), the wafer typically is fed to a pre-wetting chamber 1013(i.e., a pre-wetting apparatus is a station in a module, the modulefurther including an electroplating station configured to electroplatethe wafer with a metal, the metal being copper in some embodiments), thevarious embodiments of which are described herein. In other embodiments,system 1001 is configured for an anodic process. In such embodiment, themodule further includes a station configured for an anodic process, suchas electroetching or electropolishing.

The pre-wetting chamber 1013 is either configured to pre-wet a waferunder vacuum or to apply pressure to a wetted wafer, and in someembodiments, both. Using a pre-wetting chamber configured to pre-wet awafer under vacuum as an example, ambient air is removed from thechamber while the wafer is spun. Once vacuum is achieved, the deviceside of the wafer is exposed to degassed pre-wetting fluid (degassed inmodule 1015 with a degassing flow loop). After wetting is complete,excess fluid is removed, gas is reintroduced to the chamber toatmospheric pressure, and the chamber is opened to allow the wafer to beextracted by the robot or other transfer mechanism. In some embodiments,the transfer mechanism is configured to transfer the pre-wetted wafersubstrate from the pre-wetting station to an electroplating station inless than about one minute.

In some embodiments, the wafer is then placed into an aligner (notshown), such as a notch aligner. By passing though a high-accuracy notchaligner, accurate placement into a edge sealing plating cell, whichexcludes plating solution from the back and the very small device sideedge exclusion region (e.g., about 1 mm from the edge), is possible. Theplating cell may be specially designed to have a seal that traverses thenotch area. Plating and feature filling (i.e., a layer of metal iselectroplated on the wafer substrate) occurs in plating cell 1021, 1023,or 1025, (i.e., electroplating stations) and in some embodiments, theplating solution is a degassed solution. In some embodiments, the metalis copper. The electroplating stations are configured to immerse thewafer in a degassed plating electrolyte in the electroplating station.In some embodiments, an electroplating station is configured tocathodically polarize the wafer substrate before immersing the wafersubstrate in a degassed plating electrolyte. The plating solution can berecycled though a separate degassing loop different from a flow loopbetween a main plating bath and the plating sell, or by passing thoughthe degassing element in the same loop as the bath/plating cell loop,being degassed just prior to entering the plating cell.

After plating is completed the wafer is rinsed with water above theplating cell and spun to remove excess entrained fluid, the waferholding clamshell apparatus is opened releasing the edge seal andallowing wafer extraction. The wafer is then transferred to a posttreatment module where the wafer is rinsed and dried.

One concern with the pre-wetting process is that in the time betweenpre-wetting and plating (i.e., after exposing the wafer to pre-wettingfluid while under vacuum in a pre-wetting chamber but before platingcommences), it is possible to have the wafer surface “de-wet”. Dewettingmay be described as a physical draining and coagulation of thepre-wetting fluid from the surface (i.e., rather than a drying of thesurface), leaving one section of the surface with a thicker film ofpre-wetting fluid, and another section with no pre-wetting fluidthereupon. This characteristic behavior is generally associated with ahighly hydrophobic surface with respect to the pre-wetting fluid. If thewetting layer pulls back or coagulates from a previously wetted surface,then the attributes of the pre-wetting process are lost. To avoid thisphenomenon, wetting agents can be added to the pre-wetting fluid toavoid the pooling of the fluid into puddles.

In some embodiments, operations in a pre-wetting chamber or apre-wetting chamber that is part of an electroplating system arecontrolled by a computer system. The computer includes a controllerincluding program instructions. The program instructions may includeinstructions to perform all of the operations needed to pre-wet a wafersubstrate. In one embodiment, the instructions are for reducing pressurein the process chamber to a subatmospheric pressure and subsequentlycontacting the wafer substrate with the pre-wetting fluid at asubatmospheric pressure to form a wetting layer on the substratesurface. The wafer substrate may be rotated at a first rotation rateduring delivery of a liquid pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrateat a subatmospheric pressure, the fluid delivery being performed forbetween about 10 to 120 seconds. Then, delivery of the pre-wetting fluidis stopped. After stopping the delivery of the pre-wetting fluid, thewafer substrate is rotated at a second rotation rate to remove excesssurface entrained pre-wetting fluid from the wafer substrate. In someembodiments, the vacuum in the process chamber is released after thedelivery of the pre-wetting fluid is stopped and prior to removal of theexcess entrained pre-wetting fluid. In alternative embodiments, thevacuum is released after removal of the excess entrained pre-wettingfluid. The wafer may be rotated at different rates in differentembodiments. In some embodiments, the first rotation rate duringdelivery of a liquid pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate is lessthan about 300 rpm and the second rotation rate to remove excessentrained pre-wetting fluid from the wafer substrate is at least about300 rpm. In other embodiments, the first rotation rate is about 100 rpmor less, and the second rotation rate is at least about 500 rpm. In yetfurther embodiments, the pre-wetting apparatus is configured forremoving excess entrained pre-wetting fluid from the wafer substrate bya method selected from the group consisting of centrifugal spinning,air-knife drying, and wiping and the controller includes programinstructions for performing these operations.

Process/Method

In a general pre-wetting method for some embodiments disclosed herein, avacuum is first created in the environment around the wafer. Then, thewafer surface is sprayed with, streamed with, covered with, or immersedin sufficient (in some embodiments, degassed) pre-wetting fluid,eventually exposing the entire wafer to a sufficiently thick liquidlayer. The layer may not cover the entire surface at all times, untillater in the process. The wafer surface is then left immersed orotherwise exposed to a pre-wetting fluid layer for a period of time(e.g., by continuing to spray, stream, cover, or immerse the surfacewith additional fluid) until adsorption (or reaction) of any pre-wettingfluid constituents at the wafer surface have substantially reachedcompletion/equilibrium and a favorable/uniform wetting character(hydrophilicity, low contact angle) is achieved. After pre-wetting, thespraying, streaming, or covering of the wafer with pre-wetting fluid isstopped. In some embodiments, vacuum is released and then excessentrained fluid is removed from the (now) completely hydrophilic surface(e.g., by centrifugal spinning, air-knife drying, squeegee wiping,etc.), leaving a thin uniform adherent layer of pre-wetting fluid on thesurface. In other embodiments, excess entrained fluid is removed beforereleasing vacuum. Finally, the wafer is transferred to plating cell toplate the wafer.

Because there may be anywhere from a few seconds to over a minutebetween the time that entrained pre-wetting fluid is removed from thewafer surface to the initiation of metal deposition, it is importantthat the wafer is globally hydrophilic and remain completely coated withfluid over the entire surface. In the ensuing time, a hydrophobicsurface/fluid combination can lead to the fluid receding from, anduncovering a portion of, the wafer surface, for example, starting fromthe wafer edges. This de-wetting may cause the fluid to be drawn outfrom within any recessed features within the wafer substrate, possiblyleading to gas being trapped within the feature on immersion into theplating bath. Hydrophobic surfaces, particularly those that havecompletely de-wetted in some regions, have non-uniform fluid pre-wettinglayer thickness over the wafer substrate. In the case that thepre-wetting fluid in use has a different composition than the platingbath, the subsequent immersion of the pre-wetted wafer into the platingsolution will not allow for a uniformly wetted surface if thepre-wetting fluid has not wetted the wafer properly. The non-uniformlywetted wafer will cause the diffusion times and concentrations ofvarious components to be different across the wafer's surface due to thethickness of the wetted layer. This can lead to variation in featurefilling behavior or the creation of various wafer surface defects, suchas lines of entrapped bubbles, metal pits, metal thickness variations,or growth protrusions. Therefore, after the pre-wetting process, thepre-wetting fluid should create a uniform, small contact angle withrespect to the entire wafer surface, for example, a contact angle ofabout 45 degrees or less, if possible. When a lower contact angle ispossible, a very thin and adherent pre-wetting fluid layer can becreated.

It is often observed that the contact angles of a surface can changewith time, and that hydrophobic surfaces may become more hydrophilicover time when exposed to certain liquids. Certain wafer surfaces, suchas those coated with copper films by, for example, plasma vapordeposition, can exhibit a significant decrease in the liquid/surfacecontact angle with time upon continuously exposing the surface to thepre-wetting fluid. In particular, the continual exposure of such asurface, while under vacuum conditions, can lead to rapid and completetransformation of the surface from a generally de-wetted, hydrophobicstate, to a wetted, hydrophilic state.

By applying a degassed pre-wetting fluid to the surface whilesimultaneously maintaining a low pressure/vacuum atmosphere, theimpediment of simultaneously expanding, flushing, or otherwise removingtrapped gas from the surface is substantially eliminated, and so theimpediment of exposing areas of the wafer that are still hydrophobic dueto no or limited previous exposure to the pre-wetting fluid may bereduced. Considering the process without employing the vacuum andwetting combination, the various regions of the wafer surface will fallinto 5 wetted categories: 1) Hydrophobic Wetted: Covered with and wettedwith pre-wetting fluid but for an insufficient time, so it is stillhydrophobic; 2) Hydrophilic Wetted: Covered with and wetted withpre-wetting fluid for a sufficient time, so it is has becomehydrophilic; 3) Un-wetted: Hydrophobic, exposed to air, and neverexposed to pre-wetting fluid; 4) De-wetted: Previously wetted, buthaving become de-wetted, and again exposed to air; 5) Trapped Bubble:Containing a bubble containing trapped air at the surface and under alayer of pre-wetting fluid.

It is important to note that an area in state 3, 4, or 5 will notundergo any adsorption or chemical reaction, leading to the absence ofany hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic surface transformation unless and untilthat region later becomes wetted. Furthermore, areas around state 3 thatare in state 1 or 2 are wetted and are or will become hydrophilic,allowing fluid to flow freely and continuously over this surface andmaking the removal of the bubble or wetting of adjacent surfacesconsiderably more difficult. Also, a currently hydrophobic surfaceregion, having previously been exposed to pre-wetting fluid, mayrepeatedly go between the states of liquid-coverage-free and covered buthydrophobic. The process continues converting between these states asfluid wicks away to adjacent hydrophilic area, oscillating back andforth from state 1 to state 3 multiple times, until eventually it eitherit i) changes to state 2 and becomes hydrophilic and wetted, thereafterstays in state 2, or ii) become surrounded by areas that are morewetting, encapsulates a bubble, and transforms to state 4.

The above processes, performed under atmospheric conditions (i.e., inair), should be contrasted with processes performed under vacuum (andwith degassed pre-wetting fluid). In these processes, there are onlythree wetted categories that exist: 1) Wetted: Covered and wetted withpre-wetting fluid; 2) Un-wetted: Exposed to vacuum and never exposed topre-wetting fluid; 3) De-wetted: Previously wetted, but having becomede-wetted and re-exposed to vacuum.

A pre-wetting process performed under vacuum ensures that, as long as aparticular part of the wafer has been exposed to pre-wetting fluid(state 1) for sufficient time, the particular part of the wafer willeventually become hydrophilic. Unlike a pre-wetting process performed inatmosphere, a high fluid velocity pre-wetting fluid stream is notrequired to “flush away” trapped bubbles. Furthermore, bubble flushingis not 100% effective, and will often lead to bubble fragmentation,leaving a large number of smaller, hard to remove bubble behind. Hence,pre-wetting under vacuum is a much more reliable low defect process oversimply spraying, covering, or immersing the wafer into a pre-wettingfluid under atmosphere. Other factors that favor pre-wetting undervacuum are that a) surface energies of the vacuum/liquid/metal interfaceare different and the contact angle is often lower than theair/liquid/metal interface, b) metal oxide/nitride/carbonate reformationis avoided, and c) using degassed fluid prevents the possibility of gasprecipitating out of the fluid, for example, as a result of a spurioustemperature or pressure change at some points at the liquid-waferinterface.

FIG. 8a is a flow diagram for a general embodiment of a pre-wettingprocess (1100). A wafer substrate having an exposed metal layer on atleast a portion of its surface is provided to a pre-wetting processchamber (1105). The pressure in the process chamber is then reduced to asubatmospheric pressure (1110). The wafer substrate is then contactedwith a pre-wetting fluid at a subatmospheric pressure to form a wettinglayer on the wafer substrate surface (1115). Such a pre-wetting processcan be preformed in the pre-wetting apparatus designs described herein.

The wafer substrate has different features in different embodiments. Thewafer substrate may have at least one recessed feature. The recessedfeature may be a damascene feature, which are formed by damascenepatterning processes. A damascene plating process is a process in whicha recess in a dielectric layer of a semiconductor wafer formed by adamascene patterning process is filled with a metal film. A recessedfeature may also be a though-mask feature.

In some embodiments, the pre-wetting fluid is substantially free ofdissolved gases. In some embodiments, one or more dissolved gases areremoved from the pre-wetting fluid prior to contacting the wafer withthe pre-wetting fluid. To aid in removal of dissolved gases, in someembodiments, the pre-wetting fluid is cooled to less than about 20° C.during removal of the gases. To remove gases from a pre-wetting fluid toobtain, in some instances, a pre-wetting fluid that is substantiallyfree of dissolved gases, a pre-wetting fluid treatment tank has thepre-wetting fluid circulating for a specific time period (typically ½ anhour, depending on the capabilities and capacity of the degasser) thougha degassing loop before contacting the wafer substrate with pre-wettingfluid. This is discussed herein with respect to FIG. 1. Typically thisimplies that fluid is flowing through the loop while the vacuum pump ison and at vacuum, and the valve connecting the degasser and to thepre-wetting tank to the pump is open. This ensures that the pre-wettingfluid that is subsequently applied to the wafer surface is substantiallyfree of dissolved gases. Measurements of a system so designed showsresidual levels of dissolved oxygen reaching as little as about 1-2% orless of that saturated with oxygen from air.

Furthermore, dome and wall heaters on the process chamber may be turnedon, set to a temperature of about 10° C., and in some instances about20° C. or greater, than that of the pre-wetting fluid temperature. Forexample, if the fluid temperature is about 20° C., a wall temperature ofabout 40 to 50° C. is appropriate. Dome and wall heaters avoidcondensation on the surfaces and the potential for liquid dropletsfalling onto the exposed surface prior to pre-wetting under vacuum. Apurge of the chamber surfaces can be accomplished by bringing thechamber to vacuum with the door closed and the walls at the targetheated temperature. For example, without a wafer present in the chamberand the walls heated, the chamber is brought to vacuum and remains atvacuum for about 10 minutes or more, so as to remove any liquid whichmight have accumulated on the chamber ceiling and upper walls. Thevacuum can be removed by backfilling with, for example, clean drynitrogen. This procedure removes any possible condensate from thechamber walls and minimizes the formation of gas born particles. Afterconfirming that a) all chamber fluid level sensors are at appropriatevalues (e.g., tank full, chamber empty), b) the heater is on, and c) thevacuum is ready for processing, the pre-wetting chamber process door canbe opened and the door shield (if so equipped) dropped. Next, a wafer isplaced into the chuck and the robot arm is retracted, the vacuum door isclosed, and the liquid splash shield is raised or the wafer loweredbelow the shield (if so equipped).

A target level of vacuum for the pre-wetting process in some embodimentsis between about 10 and 100 torr, for example about 40 torr. In someembodiments, the vacuum (i.e., subatmospheric pressure) is about 50torr. In some embodiments, after pump down is complete, the vacuum linecan be closed, while in other embodiments, the pump continues to pull avacuum while pre-wetting fluid is injected into the chamber and onto thewafer.

In some embodiments, a liquid pre-wetting fluid is delivered onto thewafer substrate surface. This may entail immersing the wafer substratein the pre-wetting fluid. Alternatively, this may entail spraying orcovering the wafer substrate with the pre-wetting fluid. In otherembodiments, contacting the wafer substrate with a pre-wetting fluid isperformed by delivering a gaseous pre-wetting fluid onto the wafersubstrate. The gaseous fluid is allowed to condense and form the wettinglayer on the wafer substrate. In these embodiments, the temperature ofthe wafer substrate may be reduced below the condensation temperature ofthe pre-wetting fluid before exposing the wafer substrate to thepre-wetting fluid.

In some embodiments, the wafer may be rotated while a liquid pre-wettingfluid is delivered onto the wafer substrate surface. In someembodiments, the wafer substrate is rotated at a rate of between about10 rpm to 300 rpm. In further embodiments, the wafer substrate isrotated at a rate of between about 10 rpm to 100 rpm. In otherembodiments, the wafer substrate is spun at speed of from about 100 to400 rpm, for example at about 300 rpm. In some cases a higher rotationrate (e.g., about 400 to 800 rpm), or a cycling of rotation rate, withperiodic accelerations and decelerations of the wafer, may be used for ashort time (about 2 to 10 seconds) where overcoming fluid wettingresistance of a highly hydrophobic wafers is an issue. Chamber pump downmay be initiated before or after wafer rotation is started.

In embodiments where a liquid pre-wetting fluid in used, flow of thepre-wetting fluid is initiated into the chamber and onto wafer surface.A typical flow rate of between about 0.5 and 2 lpm, for example, about0.8 lpm, is used, for between about 3 seconds and 1 minute or more, forexample, for about 20 seconds, depending on the necessary time toachieve full wetting of a particular surface, rotation rate of thewafer, and the wetting properties of the fluid. In some embodiments, thepre-wetting fluid is contacted with the wafer substrate from about 10second to 120 seconds. After the wetting process is complete, thepre-wetting fluid flow is stopped, for example, by closing a pre-wettingfluid flow valve.

Next, the chamber is brought to an atmospheric pressure. In someembodiments, the chamber is brought to an atmospheric pressure with anoxygen-free gas, e.g., dry nitrogen.

In some embodiments, excess pre-wetting fluid is removed from thesubstrate surface. This can be done before or after bringing the chamberto an atmospheric pressure. In some embodiments, excess pre-wettingfluid is removed from the wafer substrate surface by rotating the wafersubstrate. The wafer substrate rotation rate is increased to a valuewhere excess entrained fluid can be removed from the wafer substratesurface, but a thin layer of liquid remains. The wafer substrate may berotated from about 300 rpm to 1000 rpm during removal of the excesspre-wetting fluid. The wafer substrate may be rotated less than about 20seconds during removal of the excess pre-wetting fluid. In otherembodiment, the wafer substrate rotation rate is increased to betweenabout 250 and 800 rpm for between about 5 and 60 seconds, while avoidingthe complete drying of the pre-wetting fluid. While the rotation processgenerally can be initiated prior to the release of vacuum, by performingthis step after the release of vacuum, it is believed that the potentialfor the wafer drying is reduced, because the evaporative drying from athin layer and the possibility of creating a dry surface at some pointon the wafer may be less.

After removing the excess entrained fluid from the wafer substratesurface, the wafer substrate rotation is stopped, the splash shieldlowered and/or the wafer substrate raised (if so equipped), the vacuumdoor opened, and the wafer removed from the chamber and placed in anelectroplating chamber. In some embodiments, the pre-wetted wafersubstrate is exposed to an environment outside of the chamber and theelectroplating chamber for less than about one minute. In otherembodiments, the pre-wetted wafer substrate has a wetting layer having athickness of between about 50 to 500 μm immediately prior toelectroplating when it is transferred to the electroplating chamber.After the wafer substrate is in the electroplating chamber, the wafersubstrate is electroplated using a degassed plating solution, in someembodiments. In some embodiments, the pre-wetted wafer substrate iscathodically polarized with respect to a plating solution beforecontacting the wafer substrate with the plating solution. Thepre-wetting process chamber and the electroplating chamber may bedistinct stations of one apparatus module. In other embodiments, thewafer substrate is electroplated in the same chamber than was used forpre-wetting. In these embodiments, the electroplating may be performedusing a degassed plating solution.

In alternative embodiments, after removing the pre-wetted wafersubstrate from the pre-wetting process chamber, the pre-wetted wafersubstrate is transferred to a chamber configured to perform an anodicprocess such as electroetching and electropolishing.

FIG. 8b is a flow diagram for another embodiment of a pre-wettingprocess (1150). A wafer substrate having an exposed metal layer on atleast a portion of its surface is provided to a pre-wetting processchamber (1155). The pressure in the process chamber is then reduced to asubatmospheric pressure (1160). The wafer substrate is then contactedwith a pre-wetting fluid at a subatmospheric pressure (1165). Thepressure in the process chamber is then increased to facilitate theremoval of bubbles (1170). Such a pre-wetting process can be preformedin pre-wetting apparatus designs described herein

The apparatus designs and methods described herein may be used topre-wet a partially fabricated semiconductor device structure. In someembodiments, a pre-wet partially fabricated semiconductor devicestructure includes at least one recessed feature. The recessed featurehas a layer of metal lining the feature. The recessed feature alsoincludes a substantially gas-free pre-wetting fluid filling the feature,the pre-wetting fluid comprising an aqueous metal salt solutionsubstantially free from plating accelerators and levelers.

Different combinations of pre-wetting fluid compositions and platingsolution compositions can be used in a pre-wetting process combined withan electroplating process, as described herein. FIG. 9 is a flow diagramfor an embodiment of an electroplating process 1200 for electroplating alayer of copper on a wafer substrate. A wafer substrate having anexposed metal layer on at least a portion of its surface is provided toa pre-wetting process chamber (1205). The wafer is then contacted with apre-wetting fluid to form a layer of pre-wetting fluid on the wafersubstrate (1210). The pre-wetted wafer is then contacted with a platingsolution that includes metal ions to electroplate a layer of metal onthe wafer substrate (1215).

The apparatus designs and methods described herein are useful in variousother liquid semiconductor processes and circumstances, beyondelectroplating/feature filling, where bubbles or trapped gasses within ahigh aspect ratio feature may pose a problem.

All operations described herein, including the various wetting,pre-wetting, degassing, alignment, transfer, and plating operations, maybe configured or programmed in one or more controllers provided on orotherwise in communication with the described modules and systems. Anycombination or sequence of such operations, as described herein, may beprogrammed or configured as such using such controller(s). Firmware,software macros, application specific integrated circuits, shareware,machine-readable media, and the like may be used to implement thecontroller instructions and may be coupled to the controller(s).Further, the controller(s) may include one or more memory devices andone or more processors configured to execute the instructions so thatthe apparatus can perform a method in accordance with the disclosedembodiments.

Through Resist Plating Pre-Wetting Apparatus and Process Example

The apparatus designs and methods described above also may be used forthrough resist plating processes (i.e., plating onto a wafer substratethat includes a photoresist). Through resist plating is a process inwhich pillars or lines of a metal are formed on a wafer substrate, withthe resist being used as a plating template material. For example, in athrough resist plating process, a metal seed layer is formed on asurface of a wafer substrate. The seed layer is then coated with aphotoresist, the photoresist is exposed to ultraviolet light, andportions of the photoresist are removed in the developing process (e.g.,for a positive resist, the portions exposed to the light are removed,and for a negative resist, the portions that are not exposed to thelight are removed) to form features in the photoresist. In someembodiments, the features may have aspect ratios of about 2 to 1 toabout 1 to 2, or about 1 to 1. In some embodiments, the features in thephotoresist have openings having a size of about 5 micrometers to 200micrometers, about 10 micrometers to 100 micrometers, or about 20micrometers to 50 micrometers. In some embodiments, lines or paths(e.g., used to form redistribution layers) may be formed in thephotoresist.

A descum process, which may include exposure of the wafer substrate toan oxygen plasma, may be performed to remove any residual photoresistfrom the metal seed layer in the features. A metal is then electroplatedonto the metal seed layer in the features. The metal may beelectroplated to thickness near the thickness of the resist thickness,in some embodiments. For example, the electroplated metal thickness maybe slightly above or slightly below the resist thickness. Afterelectroplating the metal, the photoresist is stripped from the wafersubstrate.

In some embodiments, the electroplating process may be preceded by apre-wetting process. In one example, for a wafer level package, thewafer substrate may be contacted with a pre-wetting fluid, and then athin nickel layer about 2 micrometers to 4 micrometers thick may beelectroplated onto the metal seed layer. A solder alloy such as SnAg, Snor SnCu may be electroplated onto the thin nickel layer. The photoresistremaining on the wafer substrate is then removed. The metal seed layerremaining on the surface of the wafer substrate (i.e., the metal seedlayer not electroplated onto) also may be removed. The pre-wettingapparatus and chambers described above (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1-6)may be used for forming a pre-wetting layer on a wafer substrate forthough resist plating.

In some instances, however, photoresist particulates or residues may beformed and come to rest on the metal seed layer in the features formedin the photoresist. This can be residual material from the developingstep or particulates that are generated during the descum step. Aphotoresist particle/residue on the seed layer may then be plated over,forming a defect in the plated metal. The photoresist particles may beabout 2 micrometers to 7 micrometers in size, or about 5 micrometers insize. The photoresist particles/residue may be a fraction of the size ofthe feature in the photoresist (e.g., a photoresist particle may beabout 10% of the size of a feature). The photoresist particles may beformed in the descum process (e.g., by mechanical damage of thephotoresist during the descum process), and may adhere to the sidewallsof the features in the photoresist. A pre-wetting process may transferthe photoresist particles/residue to the metal seed layer.

In some embodiments, a pre-wetting chamber may include elements thatdeliver a pre-wetting fluid at a pressure such that the pre-wettingfluid has a sufficient velocity to remove a photoresist particle/residuefrom where the particle is attached (i.e., the photoresist surface orthe metal seed layer). In certain embodiments, the pre-wetting fluid hasvelocity components both parallel to and normal to the surface of thewafer substrate. One or both of these components may provide forcessufficient to overcome the forces (e.g., electrostatic and/or frictionalforces) holding the photoresist particles to the wafer substrate. Inaddition to dislodging a photoresist particle, the pre-wetting fluid isdelivered to the pre-wetting chamber at a flow rate whereby thedislodged photoresist particles are carried off the surface of the wafersubstrate. Photoresist particle/residue removal may be enhanced withhigher flow rates of a pre-wetting fluid. As wafer substrates typicallyinclude multiple features in the photoresist, a photoresist particleneeds to be removed from a feature and transported off of the wafersubstrate under conditions that prevent the particle from being trappedby falling into a different feature.

FIGS. 10a and 10b depict an embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber forthrough resist plating. FIG. 10a shows a cross-sectional view of thepre-wetting chamber, and FIG. 10b shows an isometric projection of aninterior portion of the pre-wetting chamber. A pre-wetting chamber 1350includes a chamber body 1352 and a chamber cover 1354 that form a vacuumseal when in contact with one another. The chamber body 1352 supports awafer substrate holder 1356 configured to hold a wafer substrate 1358and configured to rotate the wafer substrate 1358.

The chamber body 1352 further includes a vacuum port 1360 and a fluidinlet 1362. The vacuum port 1360 is coupled to a vacuum pump andconfigured to allow the formation of a subatmospheric pressure in thepre-wetting chamber 1350. The fluid inlet 1362 is coupled to a degasser(not shown). The degasser is configured to remove one or more dissolvedgasses from a pre-wetting fluid to produce a degassed pre-wetting fluid.The fluid inlet is configured to deliver the degassed pre-wetting fluidonto the wafer substrate at a velocity of at least about 16 meters persecond (m/s) to dislodge photoresist particles from the surface of thewafer substrate. Further, the fluid inlet is configured to deliver thedegassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate at a flow rate atleast about 0.6 liters per minute (L/minute) such that the dislodgedphotoresist particles are washed off of and removed from the wafersubstrate.

In the depicted embodiment, the fluid inlet 1362 includes a nozzle 1364mounted to a sidewall of the chamber body 1352. In some embodiments, thenozzle 1364 is a fan nozzle. A fan nozzle may be configured to deliverthe degassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate such that thedegassed pre-wetting fluid impinges the wafer substrate in the shape ofa line. FIGS. 10a and 10b show a free flowing line of degassedpre-wetting fluid 1366 from the nozzle 1364 impinging the wafersubstrate 1358.

A fan nozzle is a type of fluid nozzle that allows a fluid flow tospread out from the nozzle in the shape of a fan. For example, a fannozzle having a spray angle of about 40 degrees to 120 degrees, or about95 degrees in a specific embodiment, may be used for the nozzle 1364.The spray angle is the angle of the fan of fluid produced by the fannozzle. In certain embodiments, a fan nozzle for use with thepre-wetting chamber 1350 may have an orifice size of 0.04 inches to 0.06inches, or about 0.05 inches, a flow rate of about 0.6 L/minute to 2.2L/minute, or about 1.3 L/minute, with a pressure of the nozzle beingabout 30 pounds per square inch (psi) to 80 psi, or about 40 psi, and afluid velocity at the wafer surface of about 16 m/s to 31 m/s.

In a pre-wetting operation using the pre-wetting chamber 1350, thepressure in the pre-wetting chamber may be reduced to a subatmosphericpressure prior to forming a wetting layer on the wafer substrate. Forexample, in some embodiments, forming a wetting layer on the wafersubstrate may begin when a pressure in the pre-wetting chamber isreduced to less than about 50 Torr. Before forming the wetting layer andwhile forming the wetting layer, the wafer substrate may be rotated at afirst rotation rate. Then, a wetting layer is formed on the wafersubstrate at the sub-atmospheric pressure in the pre-wetting chamber bycontacting the wafer substrate with a degassed pre-wetting fluid fromthe degasser and admitted through the fluid inlet. In some embodiments,the wafer substrate may be contacted with the degassed pre-wetting fluidfor about 10 seconds to 120 seconds.

After forming the wetting layer on the wafer substrate, delivery of thedegassed pre-wetting fluid may be stopped. The pressure in thepre-wetting chamber may be increased to atmospheric pressure or to aboveatmospheric pressure after stopping the delivery of the degassedpre-wetting fluid. Then, the wafer substrate may be rotated at a secondrotation rate to remove excess surface entrained degassed pre-wettingfluid from the wafer substrate. In some embodiments, all of the processoperations described above may be performed in a pre-wetting process. Insome other embodiments, some of the process operations described abovemay be excluded in a pre-wetting process.

The wafer substrate rotating at a first rotation rate during thepre-wetting process may aid in the removal of photoresist particles fromthe wafer substrate. For example, the centripetal force exerted on aphotoresist particle may aid in transporting a dislodged photoresistparticle to the edge of and off of the wafer substrate. The centripetalforce exerted on a photoresist particle near the center of the wafersubstrate (i.e., near the axis of rotation of the wafer substrate) maynot be great, however. Thus, in some embodiments, the pre-wetting fluidis delivered to and impinges the wafer substrate as a line through thecenter of the wafer substrate (e.g., near the axis of rotation of thewafer substrate) to aid in the removal of photoresist particles from thecenter of the wafer substrate.

For example, in a pre-wetting operation using the pre-wetting chamber1350, a wafer substrate may be placed in the pre-wetting chamber and thechamber closed. A vacuum of about 50 Torr to 100 Torr, or about 70 Torr,may be formed in the pre-wetting chamber. The wafer substrate may berotated at a first rotation rate of about 20 rpm to 800 rpm, or about 80rpm, while the wafer substrate is contacted with degassed pre-wettingfluid from about 5 seconds to 90 seconds, or about 10 seconds, at a flowrate of about 0.6 L/minute to 2.2 L/minute, or about 1.3 L/minute, and afluid velocity at the wafer surface of about 16 m/s to 31 m/s. The wafersubstrate may then be rotated at a second rotation rate of about 20 rpmto 800 rpm, or about 25 rpm, while the wafer substrate is contacted withdegassed pre-wetting fluid from about 1 second to 90 seconds, or about20 seconds, at a flow rate of about 0.6 L/minute to 2.2 L/minute, orabout 1.3 L/minute, and a fluid velocity at the wafer surface of about16 m/s to 31 m/s. In some embodiments, this second rotation rateoperation may not be included in the pre-wetting operation. Thepre-wetting chamber may then be brought to atmospheric pressure, afterwhich the wafer substrate may be rotated at 1 rpm to 250 rpm, or about180 rpm. In some embodiments, the wafer substrate may not be rotatedafter the pre-wetting chamber is brought to atmospheric pressure.

In some embodiments, the pre-wetting fluid may be delivered to the wafersubstrate in pulses. For example, the pre-wetting fluid may be on forabout 1 second to 9 seconds, or about 5 seconds, and then off for 100milliseconds to 900 milliseconds, or about 500 milliseconds. The pulsesof pre-wetting fluid may be repeated about 5 to 15 times, or about 10times, in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, deionized water may be used in the pre-wettingprocess for through resist plating. In some other embodiments, achemical solution that aids in dislodging and removing photoresistparticles from the wafer substrate may be used in the pre-wettingprocess for through resist plating.

FIGS. 11a and 11b depict an embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber forthrough resist plating. FIG. 11a shows a cross-sectional view of thepre-wetting chamber, and FIG. 11b shows a top-down view of a fluid inletmanifold and a wafer substrate. A pre-wetting chamber 1400 includes achamber body 1402 and a chamber cover 1404 that form a vacuum seal whenin contact with one another. The chamber body 1402 supports a wafersubstrate holder 1406 configured to hold a wafer substrate 1408 andconfigured to rotate the wafer substrate 1408. The chamber body 1402further includes a vacuum port 1410. The vacuum port is coupled to avacuum pump and configured to allow the formation of a subatmosphericpressure in the pre-wetting chamber 1400.

The chamber cover 1404 includes three fluid inlets 1412 coupled to amanifold 1416. The manifold 1416 may include one or more ports. Asshown, the manifold 1416 includes a port 1418 that may be coupled to adegasser (not shown) for admitting a pre-wetting fluid to thepre-wetting chamber 1400. A port 1420 of the manifold 1416 may be usedto purge the manifold 1416 with an inert gas to remove any pre-wettingfluid that may remain in the manifold 1416 after a pre-wetting process.

In certain embodiments, each of the fluid inlets 1412 is configured todeliver the degassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate at avelocity of at least about 7 meters per second (m/s) to dislodgephotoresist particles from the surface of the wafer substrate. Further,in certain embodiments, the fluid inlets together are configured todeliver the degassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate at aflow rate at least about 0.4 L/minute such that the dislodgedphotoresist particles are washed off of and removed from the wafersubstrate.

In some embodiments, each of the fluid inlets 1412 includes a nozzle1414. In some embodiments, each of the nozzles 1414 is a fan nozzle. Thefan nozzles may be configured to deliver the degassed pre-wetting fluidonto the wafer substrate such that the degassed pre-wetting fluidimpinges the wafer substrate in the shape of a line or rectangle. FIG.11a shows a degassed pre-wetting fluid 1422 from the nozzles 1414impinging the wafer substrate 1408. As also shown in FIG. 11a , thenozzles 1414 are configured such that the degassed pre-wetting fluidnozzles are distributed substantially across a radius of the wafersubstrate; i.e., from an edge of the wafer substrate to about the centerof the wafer substrate. In this configuration, the degassed pre-wettingfluid also contacts the wafer substrate substantially across the radiusof the substrate. With the wafer substrate rotating, the entire wafersubstrate surface may be contacted with the pre-wetting fluid after onecomplete rotation of the wafer substrate.

As mentioned, a fan nozzle is a type of fluid nozzle that allows a fluidflow to spread out from the nozzle in the shape of a fan. In a specificexample, for pre-wetting a 300 millimeter diameter wafer substrate inthe pre-wetting chamber 1400, the pre-wetting chamber may include threefan nozzles. Each of the fan nozzles may have a spray angle of about 20degrees to 60 degrees, or about 40 degrees. Each of the fan nozzles foruse with the pre-wetting chamber 1400 may have an orifice size of 0.02inches to 0.05 inches, or about 0.035 inches, a flow rate of about 0.15L/minute to 1 L/minute, or about 0.25 L/minute, with a pressure of thenozzle being about 30 psi to 80 psi, or about 40 psi, and a fluidvelocity at the wafer surface of about 7 m/s to 31 m/s. Three nozzles,each having a flow rate of about 0.25 L/minute, may deliver apre-wetting fluid at a total flow rate of about 0.75 L/minute. In someembodiments, the fan of pre-wetting fluid delivered from a nozzle issubstantially flat.

In a pre-wetting operation using the pre-wetting chamber 1400, a wafersubstrate may be placed in the pre-wetting chamber and the chamberclosed. A vacuum of about 50 Torr to 100 Torr, or about 70 Torr, may beformed in the pre-wetting chamber. The wafer substrate may be rotated ata first rotation rate of about 20 rpm to 800 rpm, or about 80 rpm, whilethe wafer substrate is contacted with degassed pre-wetting fluid fromabout 5 seconds to 90 seconds, or about 10 seconds, at a total flow rateof about 0.45 L/minute to 3 L/minute, or about 0.75 L/minute, and afluid velocity at the wafer surface of about 7 m/s to 31 m/s. The wafersubstrate may then be rotated at a second rotation rate of about 20 rpmto 800 rpm, or about 25 rpm, while the wafer substrate is contacted withdegassed pre-wetting fluid from about 1 second to 90 seconds, or about20 seconds, at a total flow rate of about 0.45 L/minute to 3 L/minute,or about 0.75 L/minute, and a fluid velocity at the wafer surface ofabout 7 m/s to 31 m/s. In some embodiments, this second rotation rateoperation may not be included in the pre-wetting operation. Thepre-wetting chamber may then be brought to atmospheric pressure, afterwhich the wafer substrate may be rotated at 1 rpm to 250 rpm, or about180 rpm. In some embodiments, the wafer substrate may not be rotatedafter the pre-wetting chamber is brought to atmospheric pressure.

In some embodiments, the pre-wetting fluid may be delivered to the wafersubstrate in pulses. For example, the pre-wetting fluid may be on forabout 1 second to 9 seconds, or about 5 seconds, and then off for 100milliseconds to 900 milliseconds, or about 500 milliseconds. The pulsesof pre-wetting fluid may be repeated about 5 to 15 times, or about 10times, in some embodiments.

FIG. 12 depicts an embodiment of a pre-wetting chamber for throughresist plating. A pre-wetting chamber 1500 may be similar to thepre-wetting chamber 1400, with one exception being that the pre-wettingchamber 1500 may include more fluid inlets. Further, degassedpre-wetting fluid may impinge the wafer substrate across the diameter ofthe wafer substrate in the pre-wetting chamber 1500.

A pre-wetting chamber 1500 includes a chamber body 1502 and a chambercover 1504 that form a vacuum seal when in contact with one another. Thechamber body 1502 includes a wafer substrate holder 1506 configured tohold a wafer substrate 1508 and configured to rotate the wafer substrate1508. The chamber body 1502 further includes a vacuum port 1510. Thevacuum port is coupled to a vacuum pump and configured to allow theformation of a subatmospheric pressure in the pre-wetting chamber 1500.

The chamber cover 1504 includes five fluid inlets 1512 coupled to amanifold 1516. The manifold 1516 may include one or more ports. Asshown, the manifold 1516 includes a port 1518 that may be coupled to adegasser (not shown) for admitting a pre-wetting fluid to thepre-wetting chamber 1500. A port 1520 of the manifold 1516 may be usedto purge the manifold 1516 with an inert gas to remove any pre-wettingfluid that may remain in the manifold 1516 after a pre-wetting process.

Each of the fluid inlets 1512 is configured to deliver the degassedpre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate at a velocity sufficient todislodge photoresist particles from the surface of the wafer substrate.The fluid inlets together are configured to deliver the degassedpre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate at a flow rate such that thedislodged photoresist particles are washed off of and removed from thewafer substrate.

As with the above-described embodiments, each of the fluid inlets 1512may include a nozzle 1514. Further, as above, each of the nozzles 1514may be a fan nozzle. FIG. 12 shows a degassed pre-wetting fluid 1522from nozzles 1514 impinging the wafer substrate 1508. In the pre-wettingchamber 1500, the nozzles 1514 are configured such that the degassedpre-wetting fluid contacts the wafer substrate substantially across thediameter of the wafer substrate; i.e., from one edge of the wafersubstrate, though about the center of the wafer substrate, to anotheredge of the wafer substrate. With the wafer substrate rotating, theentire wafer substrate surface may be contacted with pre-wetting fluidafter one half of a complete rotation of the wafer substrate.

In some embodiments, the pre-wetting chamber 1500 shown in FIG. 12 maybe better able to remove photoresist particles from a wafer substratethan the pre-wetting chamber 1400 shown in FIG. 11a . For example, whena photoresist particle is mobilized within a feature in the wafersubstrate (e.g., the forces holding the photoresist particle areovercome) but not removed from the feature, it would take one fullrotation of the wafer substrate in the pre-wetting chamber 1400 beforethe degassed pre-wetting fluid possibly removes the photoresist particlefrom the feature. In the case of the pre-wetting chamber 1500, it wouldtake one half of a full rotation of the wafer substrate before thedegassed pre-wetting fluid possibly removes the photoresist particlefrom the feature

In some embodiments of the pre-wetting chambers 1400 and 1500 shown inFIGS. 11a and 12, respectively, the chamber cover may remain stationaryand loading/unloading wafer substrates from the pre-wetting chamber maybe performed by the chamber body moving in a substantially verticalmanner. The chamber cover remaining stationary may aid in preventingdroplets of pre-wetting fluid from dropping onto the wafer substratewhen it is being loaded into the pre-wetting chamber. A droplet ofpre-wetting fluid contacting the wafer substrate, when the wafersubstrate is not under vacuum, may trap air bubbles between the wafersubstrate and the droplet of pre-wetting fluid. A port of the manifoldof the pre-wetting chamber cover may be used to purge the manifold withan inert gas to remove any pre-wetting fluid that may remain in themanifold before loading a wafer substrate in the pre-wetting chamber.This also may aid in preventing droplets of pre-wetting fluid fromdropping onto the wafer substrate.

The velocity and the force of the pre-wetting fluid contacting the wafersubstrate in the pre-wetting chambers 1400 and 1500 shown in FIGS. 11aand 12, respectively, generally has a larger ratio of perpendicular toparallel components (from the perspective of the wafer surface) ascompared to the pre-wetting chamber 1350 shown in FIG. 10a . Forexample, the angle of fluid impact relative to the plane of thesubstrate surface of the pre-wetting fluid in the pre-wetting chambers1400 and 1500 is about 90 degrees, with a range of about 60 degrees to90 degrees. The angle of incidence of the pre-wetting fluid in thepre-wetting chamber 1350 is about 6 degrees, with a range of about 3degrees to 10 degrees. While the velocity of the pre-wetting fluid bothperpendicular to and parallel to the wafer substrate surface maydislodge and remove photoresist particles from the wafer substrate, alarge velocity perpendicular to the surface of the wafer substrate isbelieved to be better able to dislodge photoresist particles. Thus, thepre-wetting fluid velocity in the pre-wetting chambers 1400 and 1500,having a component of velocity primarily perpendicular to the wafersubstrate, may not be as high as the pre-wetting fluid velocity in thepre-wetting chamber 1350, which has components of velocity perpendicularto and parallel to the wafer substrate.

While the pre-wetting chamber 1400 is shown as including three fluidinlets and three nozzles and the pre-wetting chamber 1500 is shown anincluding five fluid inlets and five nozzles, a pre-wetting chamber mayinclude one to eight (or even more in some embodiments) fluid inlets andassociated nozzles. Further, a pre-wetting process using the pre-wettingchamber 1400 or the pre-wetting chamber 1500 may be similar to thepre-wetting process using the pre-wetting chamber 1350, described above.Yet further, while fan nozzles were described in the embodiments of thepre-wetting chambers 1350, 1400, and 1500, nozzles that produce a coneshaped fluid stream or other shaped fluid stream may be used.

In some embodiments, before performing a pre-wetting process on a wafersubstrate for through resist plating, the wafer substrate may be passedthough ionizer bars on an ionization system to aid in removal ofphotoresist particles from the wafer substrate. Such ionization systemswork by increasing the conductivity of the air with ionized gasmolecules. When ionized air comes in contact with a charged surface,such as photoresist particles that may be bound to the wafer substrateby electrostatic forces, the surface attracts ions of the oppositepolarity. As a result, the static electricity is neutralized and thephotoresist particles may be more easily removed from the wafersubstrate during a pre-wetting process.

In some embodiments, a pre-wetting process on a wafer substrate forthrough resist plating may be performed using a pre-wetting chamberwithout any specified pre-wetting fluid velocity or flow rate. In suchembodiments, it may be desirable to employ an additional mechanism fordislodging particles. For example, the pre-wetting chamber may include amegasonic transducer that may be rotated over the wafer substratesurface and activated after a pre-wetting process in the pre-wettingchamber. A megasonic transducer may dislodge photoresist particles froma wafer substrate. Alternatively, a megasonic transducer may beincorporated in any of the pre-wetting chambers disclosed herein to aidin removing particles from a wafer substrate. In some embodiments, thepre-wetting process with a megasonic transducer may be performed undervacuum with degassed deionized water.

The through resist plating pre-wetting apparatus described herein mayinclude hardware for accomplishing the process operations, as describedabove, and also include a system controller (not shown) havinginstructions for controlling process operations in accordance with thedisclosed implementations. The system controller may include one or morememory devices and one or more processors configured to execute theinstructions so that the apparatus can perform a method in accordancewith the disclosed implementations. Such instructions may include, forexample, evacuating the pre-wetting chamber, rotating the wafer at oneor more speeds, flowing degassed pre-wetting fluid through the manifoldinto the chamber for specified durations and during specified rotationrates of the wafer substrate, stopping the flow of degassed fluid,stopping or slowing rotation of the wafer substrate, pressurizing thechamber, and removing the wafer substrate. Any combination of the aboveoperations may be programmed via appropriate instructions.Machine-readable media containing instructions for controlling processoperations in accordance with the disclosed implementations may becoupled to the system controller.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram for an embodiment of a pre-wetting process(1600) for through resist plating. A wafer substrate having recessedfeatures such as openings in a resist layer is provided to a pre-wettingprocess chamber (1605) such as chamber 1350, 1400, or 1500. In the caseof through resist plating, the bottoms of the recessed features containmetal onto which additional metal will be plated after pre-wetting. Inthe process chamber, the wafer substrate is loaded onto a wafer supportor chuck such as feature 1356, 1406, or 1506. After the wafer substrateis appropriately located in the process chamber for pre-wetting, thepressure in the process chamber is then reduced to a subatmosphericpressure (1610). Separately, a pre-wetting fluid is degassed (1615).Consistent with certain embodiments described above, the fluid may bedegassed in a separate degassing element. The degassing may be performedconcurrently with other operations depicted in FIG. 13. When the wafersubstrate is appropriately installed in the process chamber it isrotated (1620). In certain embodiments, the rotation begins prior to orduring reduction of the chamber pressure (1610) and/or degassing of thefluid (1615). After the pressure in the chamber is reduced to thedesired level, the wafer substrate is contacted with the degassedpre-wetting fluid at a subatmospheric pressure while the wafer substrateis rotating. This forms a wetting layer on the wafer substrate surface(1625). In certain embodiments, the degassed pre-wetting fluid contactsthe wafer substrate at a velocity sufficient to dislodge any particleson the exposed metal layer and at a flow rate sufficient to removedislodged particles from the wafer substrate. In various examples, thelinear velocity at which the fluid contacts the wafer substrate is atleast about 5 m/s and the volumetric flow rate of the fluid on the wafersubstrate is at least about 0.3 L/minute. In some embodiments, thepre-wetting fluid may be deionized water or a chemical solution thataids in dislodging and removing particles from the wafer substrate. Sucha pre-wetting process can be performed in the pre-wetting apparatusdesigns described herein. Further, the pre-wetting apparatus andprocesses described herein may be used to remove any type of particle ordebris from a wafer substrate.

The apparatus/methods described hereinabove may be used in conjunctionwith lithographic patterning tools or processes, for example, for thefabrication or manufacture of semiconductor devices, displays, LEDs,photovoltaic panels and the like. Generally, though not necessarily,such tools/processes will be used or conducted together in a commonfabrication facility. Lithographic patterning of a film generallycomprises some or all of the following steps, each step enabled with anumber of possible tools: (1) application of photoresist on a workpiece, i.e., a substrate, using a spin-on or spray-on tool; (2) curingof photoresist using a hot plate or furnace or UV curing tool; (3)exposing the photoresist to visible, UV, or x-ray light with a tool suchas a wafer stepper; (4) developing the resist so as to selectivelyremove resist and thereby pattern it using a tool such as a wet bench;(5) transferring the resist pattern into an underlying film or workpiece by using a dry or plasma-assisted etching tool; and (6) removingthe resist using a tool such as an RF or microwave plasma resiststripper.

Although the foregoing apparatus designs and methods have been describedin some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will beapparent that certain changes and modifications may be practiced withinthe scope of the appended claims. It should be noted that there are manyalternative ways of implementing both the process and compositionsdescribed herein. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and embodiments are notto be limited to the details given herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a degasser configured toremove one or more dissolved gasses from a pre-wetting fluid to producea degassed pre-wetting fluid; a process chamber including: a waferholder configured to hold a wafer substrate, a vacuum port configured toallow formation of a subatmospheric pressure in the process chamber, anda fluid inlet coupled to the degasser and configured to deliver thedegassed pre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate, wherein the fluidinlet includes at least one nozzle configured to deliver the degassedpre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate; and a controller programmedto: admit the degassed pre-wetting fluid through the fluid inlet at aflow rate of at least about 0.4 liters per minute, and deliver thedegassed pre-wetting fluid from the at least one nozzle onto the wafersubstrate at a velocity of at least about 7 meters per second to form awetting layer on the wafer substrate at the sub-atmospheric pressure inthe process chamber, wherein the degassed pre-wetting fluid is in aliquid state.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least onenozzle includes a fan nozzle configured to deliver the degassedpre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate such that the degassedpre-wetting fluid that impinges the wafer substrate has a shape of aline.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the process chamber includesa cover and a body, wherein the cover remains stationary and the body isconfigured to move in a substantially vertical manner to bring the bodyinto contact with the cover and to form a vacuum seal, and wherein theat least one nozzle is attached to the cover.
 4. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the at least one nozzle is configured to deliver the degassedpre-wetting fluid onto the wafer substrate from an edge of the wafersubstrate to substantially the center of the wafer substrate.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the wafer holder is configured to hold thewafer substrate in a substantially face-up orientation.
 6. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the degasser includes a membrane contactor degasser.7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the degasser is configured toproduce degassed pre-wetting fluid for contacting the wafer substratehaving about 0.5 ppm or less dissolved atmospheric gas.
 8. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the pre-wetting fluid is at least one of deionizedwater and a chemical solution that aids in dislodging and removingparticles from the wafer substrate.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe vacuum port is located below the wafer holder.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the process chamber is configured to maintain thesubatmospheric pressure of less than about 50 Torr during forming thewetting layer on the wafer substrate.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the controller is further programmed to: after forming thewetting layer on the wafer substrate, stop delivery of the degassedpre-wetting fluid, and after stopping the delivery of the degassedpre-wetting fluid, rotate the wafer substrate to remove excess surfaceentrained degassed pre-wetting fluid from the wafer substrate.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller is further programmed to:increase pressure in the process chamber to atmospheric pressure or toabove atmospheric pressure after stopping the delivery of the degassedpre-wetting fluid and prior to removal of the excess surface entrainedpre-wetting fluid.
 13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controlleris further programmed to: reduce pressure in the process chamber to thesubatmospheric pressure prior to forming the wetting layer on the wafersubstrate.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller isfurther programmed to: initiate forming the wetting layer on the wafersubstrate when a pressure in the process chamber is reduced to less thanabout 50 Torr.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller isfurther programmed to: contact the wafer substrate with the degassedpre-wetting fluid for about 10 seconds to 120 seconds.
 16. A systemcomprising the apparatus of claim 1 and a stepper.